Students’ Learning Experiences from Didactic Teaching Sessions Including Patient Case Examples as Either Text or Video: A Qualitative Study

Abstract

Objectives: The aim of this study was to explore medical students’ learning experiences from the didactic teaching formats using either text-based patient cases or video-based patient cases with similar content. The authors explored how the two different patient case formats influenced students’ perceptions of psychiatric patients and students’ reflections on meeting and communicating with psychiatric patients. Methods: The authors conducted group interviews with 30 medical students who volunteered to participate in interviews and applied inductive thematic content analysis to the transcribed interviews. Results: Students taught with text-based patient cases emphasized excitement and drama towards the personal clinical narratives presented by the teachers during the course, but never referred to the patient cases. Authority and boundary setting were regarded as important in managing patients. Students taught with video-based patient cases, in contrast, often referred to the patient cases when highlighting new insights, including the importance of patient perspectives when communicating with patients. Conclusion: The format of patient cases included in teaching may have a substantial impact on students’ patient-centeredness. Video-based patient cases are probably more effective than text-based patient cases in fostering patient-centered perspectives in medical students. Teachers sharing stories from their own clinical experiences stimulates both engagement and excitement, but may also provoke unintended stigma and influence an authoritative approach in medical students towards managing patients in clinical psychiatry.